Got You
by theonceandfuturekiki
Summary: A fic of the MSF. They just walk away! Beth lives! This is the universe I've decided to live in now! UPDATE: Coding problem should be fixed now
1. Chapter 1

They kept walking.

Daryl's hand slid from Beth's shoulder down to her hand, where their fingers intertwined as if by instinct. He was proud of how steady her hand was in his. The only thing that betrayed any sense of fear or nervousness was how tightly she gripped him back.

He didn't dare look at her, not until they were out of the hospital, not until he knew they were safe. It had been so hard, being without her. He didn't think he could bear to look into her eyes only to have her taken away again.

The sunlight was blinding when they walked outside, and for a moment Daryl was scared that he was waking up from a dream. Only the pressure of Beth's hand in his allowed him to believe that this was, in fact, real. For the first time he looked down at her, seeing her shielding her eyes with her hand, squinting away from the sunlight, her eyes having difficulty adjusting after being in the hospital for so long.

She was searching for her sister. Of course she was. Daryl felt her hand tug against his as she moved to go to Maggie, and his hand instinctively held on tighter. The logical part of his brain knew that she was just going to her sister, that she needed Maggie now, and that she would be fine. But the other part of his brain, the part that had been sick with worry and fear since he'd seen that car's tail lights, was terrified of letting her go.

He moved forward with Beth as she moved, and as she stopped she brought Daryl's hand to her lips, pressing a sweet, reassuring kiss to it. A deep breath, a last squeeze, and he reluctantly relinquished her hand so she could run into Maggie's waiting arms. The sisters collapsed into a heap of limbs and relieved tears. Daryl watched, the feeling of happiness he felt for Beth and her sister combatting with the feeling of worry that gnawed at him every second he wasn't touching her.

Eventually Maggie went to see to Carol. Beth stood, watching her sister for a moment, before turning back to Daryl. For the first time their eyes met. Daryl has never felt more emotionally naked, but he had never before felt so safe to be that way. The smile grew on Beth's face as she walked toward him, and as soon as she was within reach his hands grabbed for hers, a sense of relief washing over him as soon as he was in physical contact with her again.

"Daryl," she whispered, her eyes filling with tears.

Her head fell to his chest as his hands released hers, moved up her arms, then back down again to circle her waist, pulling her tightly to him. Beth's hands moved up, gripping his vest desperately. "Daryl," she whispered again as he felt the moisture from her tears against his chest.

His hand slid up to entangle in her ponytail and grasp cradle her head as he pressed kisses into her hair. "I got you, girl," he promised over and over. "I got you."

"I got you," she promised back.


	2. Chapter 2

The coding on chapter one should be fixed. It's weird, it looked fine in the Doc Manager and when I uploaded it as a story, and then when it actually posted it was all messed up. So I figured I'd pop up a quick chapter to make it up to all of you.

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><p>It had been 2 days since Daryl had really slept.<p>

He just didn't want to take his eyes off of Beth. Even when she was with Maggie or Glenn or Rick, he couldn't will himself to look away from her. The logical part of his brain knew that she would be fine with them, that she was just as safe with them as she was with him. But logic was losing out to the memory of what it felt like to be without her, and what happened the last time he took his eyes off of her.

Even as she slept, he refused to close his eyes and give into his exhaustion, watching over her, counting every breath. Reminding himself that _she was alive and she was fine and she was there_.

"Daryl." It was so quiet he though that he must have imagined it. That he had become so sleep deprived that he was beginning to imagine things.

"Daryl." It was louder this time, and when he looked down at Beth her eyes were open, staring at him.

"You should be sleeping," he said, trying to act she had interrupted his own sleep.

"So should you," Beth said, raising her eyebrow pointedly.

He laughed. "So the jig is up, then?"

A smile stretched across her face and his chest warmed. He had missed that smile, had been scared he would never see it again.

"The whole 'watching me sleep' thing was cute the first couple of times," Beth admitted as she leaned up on her elbow. "But it's getting a little creepy now."

Daryl let out another chuckle, looking down at his crossbow bashfully.

"I'm here, Daryl. I'm safe."

"I know. I just... I just want to make sure you stay that way."

"I want to make sure you stay that way, too," she said, wrapping her arms around his bicep and settling her cheek against his shoulder. "So let's get some sleep, okay?"

He looked down into her pleading eyes. "Besides," Beth continued, "if you keep skipping sleep you're going to get all sloppy, and you wouldn't do a very good job at keeping me safe then, would you?"

Smirking, Daryl nodded, "You have a point."

"Then lets get some sleep," she said decisively, settling in next to him.

"You're the boss," he replied, shifting a bit to get comfortable and letting his eyes fall closed.

"And for the record, I did a pretty good job at keeping myself safe, thank you very much."

Daryl wanted to tell her that he _wanted_ to keep her safe, regardless of whether or not it was something she could do herself. Instead he just replied, "That you did, Greene," as he drifted off to sleep.


End file.
